


The Legend of Zelda: Swordless Link

by malevolentScribbler



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Adventure & Romance, F/F, F/M, Link is a Girl, Rule 31.5, maybe romance in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-03
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-03-10 07:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3282737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malevolentScribbler/pseuds/malevolentScribbler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all started with the Great Deku Tree mistaking a young child's gender. How does a hero deal with something like that? Link/Zelda in later chapters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided I'm going to cross-post this here on AO3 from FF.N because, well, I want to. So here you go.

_So, there are some days being me is awkward. Apparently, the day that all of this started, was one of those days. Well, actually, I suppose it started years ago, when my mother left me in the Kokiri Woods and died before telling the Great Deku Tree that I was actually a girl. So I blame her. My name is Linkette, and I guess this is my story._

_**In the vast, deep forest of Hyrule, the Deku Tree has served as the guardian spirit.** _

_**The children of the forest, the Kokiri, live with the Tree, each with a guardian fairy.** _

_**However...** _

_**There is one child who does not have a fairy...** _

I sat up that morning with a gasp, sweat having soaked my blankets. It was that dream again, with the girl in pink... And the man with evil eyes. And the storm. It was always raining in this particular dream... Running my hand through my hair, I flopped back against my pillow... Only to have a bright light shine in my eyes. Not only is it a light, but a little face within the light. It's a fairy. She grinned at me. "Link, wake up! The Deku Tree wants to talk to you! You're such a lazy boy! The world is supposed to depend on you?" Screaming, I bat the fairy away and fall out of bed. "You finally woke up! I'm Navi the fairy! The Great Deku Tree asked me to be your partner from now on! Nice to meet you!"

I untangled myself from my blankets, which were wrapped around my legs, and pulled my hat over my hair. "I'm a girl," I grumbled under my breath, tucking my feet under me while the little fairy flutters in front of my nose. With her hands on her hips, she continued talking to me without even registering that I had said anything. Like usual. "The Great Deku Tree has summoned you! So let's get going, right now!" I sigh and stand up, then head to my balcony.

"Yoohoo! Linkette!" I looked over the edge and saw my best friend, Saria, running down the path to my tree. I grinned and waved back before sliding down my ladder to the ground. Racing up, I hugged the other girl tightly when Navi flew up. "Wow! A fairy! Finally, a fairy came to you, Linkette!" Saria exclaimed excitedly. "Wow! That's great news! I'm so happy for you! Now you're a true Kokiri, Linkette!"

I liked Saria. She was the only one other than the Skull Kid who actually called me by my real name. I opened my mouth to start saying something when Navi interupted. "Link, we have to go to the Great Deku Tree!" she said, hitting me on the head by flying into it. I shot her a glare when Saria gasped slightly. "Is that right? The Great Deku Tree has summoned you? It's quite an honor to talk to the Great Deku Tree! I'll wait for you here! Go see the Great Deku Tree!" I sighed again and started trudging towards the Great Deku Tree's grove.

As I walked, one of the other Kokiri girls called out to me. "Hey Link! Look up here!" she called, waving from the top of the shop. I looked over at the shop, and Navi flew over to the other fairy to say hi. I shook my head and looked at the Kokiri. "Now that's how to use a fairy! It's so great that you have a fairy now, Link!" I smiled as Navi finished up her business wtih the other fairy and flew back to me. I suppose it was good that I had a fairy. Maybe Mido would leave me alone...

Speaking of Mido, he was doing his usual "guarding" of the Great Deku Tree's medow. I trudged across the clearing and stood in front of him. "Mido, move," I told him, Navi having hid behind my head. Mido just stuck his fists on his hips, and sneered at me. "Hey, 'Mr. No Fairy!' What's your business with the Great Deku Tree? Without a fairy, you're not even a real man!" I was going to tell him _again_ that I wasn't a boy, but Navi interupted by flying out from behind my head. "What? _You've_ got a fairy?"

"Yes, Mido, Link has a fairy," Navi said, imitating his pose in mid-air. "And the Great Deku Tree summoned him!" She jabbed him in the nose. "Now move aside!"

Mido blinked at my fairy in surprise. "Say what?" he said, his mouth hanging open like a fly trap. _"WHAAAAAAAT?_ Why would he summon you and not the great Mido? This isn't funny..." He looked like he might go off to sulk and give me a chance to slip passed him into the medow. But noooo, he just shook his head and stomped his feet on the ground a few times. "I don't believe it! You aren't even fully equipped yet! How do you think you're going to help the Great Deku Tree without both a sword and shield ready?"

I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow at him. "You don't have a sword _or_ shield, Mido," I tell him in no uncertain terms. "How are _you_ more equipped to help the Great Deku Tree than I am?" He worked his mouth a few times, looking something like the fish in the pond of the Lost Woods. "What? You're right. I don't have my equipment ready, but... If you want to pass through here," he said, putting his fists back on his hips, "you should at least get a sword and shield. Sheesh!"

I looked at him, sorely tempted to punch him right in his smug little face. 'Guardian of the Deku Tree' indeed! Flexing one hand, I sighed _again_ and turned away. He wasn't worth it. So I went to talk to Saria again. From the look on my face, she could probably tell what had happened. But I told her anways. "Mido won't let me see the Great Deku Tree..." I pulled my hat further down on my head and frowned.

"What? Mido won't let you see the Great Deku Tree?" she asked, pouting in the direction of the Deku Tree's medow. "Ohh... That bum! I don't know why he's always so mean to everyone!" Saria turned back to me, a smile on her face again. She was always smiling when she was talking with me, even when I was angry for one reason or another. "What he said is true, though." Ohhh, I didn't want to hear that, even if she was smiling. Stupid Mido... "The forest... strange things have been happening here lately... You need to be ready for anything. You'd better find a weapon! You can buy a shield at the shop, but there is only one sword hidden somewhere in the forest."

One more sigh. "I'll talk to you when I get back, Saria," I said, grabbing my fairy and stuffing her under my hat as I walk away. She apparently didn't like that, since she started yanking out hairs from my head. "Ow, stop that!" I cried, looking around the clearing for anywhere a sword might be. "Hidden in the forest? Well, should be fun.." I grumble, heading for the training ground. I had heard talk from some of the others that there was a secret hidden somewhere above the training grounds, I just had had no reason to go looking for it. I suppose now is a good a time as any.

Navi came out of my hat and glared at me for a moment before flying ahead of me. I glared at her in return. "Don't give me that look," she said without looking back. "You're the one who stuffed me under your hat." I rolled my eyes at the fairy as she flew ahead of me. As if she knew where I was going, she headed right up for the training grounds.

A few minutes later, I crawl out of the hole in the wall, covered in dust, cobwebs, and a few bruises. I had just three questions on my mind as I stood up and dusted myself off. Why would someone put GIANT ROLLING ROCKS in the forest, how did they get in there, and why were they _still_ rolling! I sighed as I strapped the sword to my back. Oh well, not like I was going to go back in there any time soon. Now to see if I had enough rupees for a shield... I did, thankfully. Navi kept urging me to go faster, to get to the Great Deku Tree because it was important. I kept trying to stuff her in a small log to throw in the pond. That didn't work so well.

Mido stood in my way again. Holding his hand out at me, the short jerk stepped in front of me as I tried to walk past him to the Deku Tree's clearing. I sighed and put my hands on my hips. "Mido, move," I said, exasperated at the other Kokiri. Navi started to get into his face, but I grabbed her and threw her behind me. Mido shook his head. "If you want to pass through here, you need a sword and shield," he said, not noticing the sword and shield strapped to my back.

Rolling my eyes, I swung both off my back and into my hands. I smirked as his eyes went wide. "Eh, what's that? Oh, you have a Deku Shield..." he said, sounding a little surprised. Of course I had a Deku Shield! "And what's _THAT_? Is that the Kokiri Sword? _GOOD GRIEF!_ " I'm sure that the whole clearing could hear his shouting. I twisted a finger in my ear to clear it. He shook his head. "Well, even with all that stuff, a wimp is still a wimp, huh?" Mido puffed out his chest and grinned stupidly. "I, the great Mido, will never accept you as one of us!" Putting the sword and sheild away, I got ready to punch him in the face if he continued with the 'ever so important Mido' act. He stopped, crossing his arms over his chest. "Shoot, how did you get to be the favorite of Saria and the Great Deku Tree? Huh? Grumble...grumble..."

While Mido was pouting, I slipped past him into the clearing where the Great Deku Tree resided. Turning the corner, I leaned against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. "We're in, and I didn't punch that stupid Mido," I said, Navi fluttering in front of my face. She kicked me in the nose and glared, and before she opened her mouth to yell at me, I swatted her away. "Fine, I'm moving!"

Heading down the trail between the trees, I cut down a couple of Deku Baba's and picked up the stalks from their heads. They'd be useful later, I'm sure of it. Navi flew ahead of me, up towards the top of the tree. "Great Deku Tree... I'm back!" I could hear her small voice from way back here as I strode down the open path to the base of the tree. I looked up into his face, in awe of the great tree who was the only father I had ever known. "Oh... Navi... thou hast returned..." he said, and the fairy flew back down to rest at the top of my hat.

I could tell then that the Great Deku Tree's attention was on me. "Link... Welcome... Listen carefully to what I, the Great Deku Tree, am about to tell thee..." he said to me, his voice booming, but not loud enough to carry past this clearing. "Thy slumber these past moons must have been restless, and full of nightmares..." I nodded slowly, still looking up at the face of the Great Deku Tree. "As the servants of evil gain strength, a vile climate pervades the land and causes nightmares to those sensitive to it... Verily, thou hast felt it..." I nodded slowly.

"Link... The time has come to test thy courage... I have been cursed..." I was shocked. Cursed? Who could have cursed the Great Deku Tree! And why would they do that? The Great Deku Tree was peaceful, he only wanted to protect the Kokiri Forest from dangers outside. "I need you to break the curse with your wisdom and courage. Dost thou have courage enough to undertake this task?"

"Of course, Great Deku Tree! Just tell me what to do!" I called up to the Deku Tree. I could sense he was smiling at me as he continued. "Then enter, brave Link, and thou too, Navi..." he said, a portion of the trunk opening up. "Navi teh fairy," he said again. "Thou must aid Link... and Link... When Navi speaks, listen well to her words of wisdom..."

"I will Great Deku Tree," I say, walking into the opening. I pause just inside and hit my forehead. "Oh shoot, I forgot to remind the Great Deku Tree I'm a girl..."


	2. Inside Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link traverses through the Great Deku Tree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh, I am soooo sorry this took so long!

 

_So, things got a little weird right around this point. I got a shield, a sword, an audience with the Great Deku Tree, but... I still had questions that needed answering. Like, why me? I was just the tomboy with no fairy. I barely knew how to use the sword I had found. But as it is.. this is my tale._

 

_**Dost thou sense it?** _

 

_**A climate of evil is descending upon this realm...** _

 

_**Malevolent forces even now are mustering to attack our land...** _

 

_**Of Hyrule...** _

 

I have to say, the inside of the Great Deku Tree is creepy. Vines everywhere, a giant pit leading to nowhere covered in...  “Oh goddesses, those aren’t spider webs, are they? ” I asked, investigating the pit closely. Navi hovered over my shoulder, laughing at me. I glared at her.

 

“Come on, Link, we have to break the curse on the Great Deku Tree,” she said, pulling on my tunic. She wanted me to move away from the pit and start looking for clues. Well, I thought that the spider webs might be a big clue. I continued glaring at the fairy and pulled my tunic out of her grip. “Do you mind? Goddesses take you,” I swore, stalking over to the nearest patch of vines growing out of the wall. Starting to climb, I began to notice the underlying sounds of chattering all around me. And it was getting louder the higher up I went. “Navi, what do -you- suppose put that webbing there?” I questioned as I climbed. “Spider’s don’t get big enough for webs that size, do they?”

 

“Not sure,” she replied, setting down on my shoulder. “It could be a part of the curse on the Great Deku Tree, or it could be something else entirely.” I do say now that I didn’t like her answer all that much. Groaning, I continued my climb into the upper limbs of the tree. I wasn’t looking much higher than where my hands were going, which means that I didn’t see anything above me. Like the giant spider web surrounding the canopy of the Tree. When I put my hand in the webs the chattering stopped. I pulled back, hooking my feet and other hand into the vines to secure myself, and looked at my hand. Strands of spider silk trailed from my hand, threads floating to the ground far below me.

 

“Ew...”

 

Navi pulled on my ear. “Link, don’t stop now, keep climbing! We can’t let the Great Deku Tree die!” she cried, then pulling on my hair. I shrugged my shoulder, knocking the bothersome fae away from my hair. “Stop that, Navi, my hair is not something you can play with,” I said. “It hurts when you pull on it.” She replied to me, but I stopped caring as I wiped my hand clear of webbing and ignored her in favor of looking for somewhere to stand. I needed a better look around. The eerie silence all around me was starting to frighten me, and I would rather not find out what had been making the sounds. My luck was never that good, though. Setting my feet down on the nearest branch that could hold me, I turned towards the center of the tree. 

 

Only to come face to face with the largest black and yellow spider I had ever seen. It was hanging by a thread from a branch above, and all eight of its beady black eyes were staring at me. There was a dark plate on its back that made the entire thing looking like a screaming face. Taking half a step back, my hands went for my sword and shield. “Navi,” I said, my voice shaky, “what is that?”

 

My fairy flew closer, examining the spider. She hovered around, looking closely at it. I was almost afraid it would eat her, but all its focus was on me. “Oh! I know what this is!” she said. “This is a Skulltula!”

 

“Is it what’s causing the curse?” I asked, standing my ground, though I was trembling. This thing was terrifying. Navi’s high voice came out from behind it. “They, the underbelly is soft, you can probably kill it by striking it there with your sword!” She still didn’t answer my question. Stupid fairy. I swear, I would get a defective fairy. I rolled my eyes. “Sure thing, Navi, let me just slip past the giant claws waiting to slice me to bits,” I said, the sarcasm dripping from my words. I stepped towards the Skulltula, and it turned around on its thread, reaching for me with all eight of its legs. “Link, strike now, it’s showing its weak point!” Navi shouted at me, flying out from behind the giant spider. I hesitated, just a moment too long and the Skulltula spun quickly, slashing its claws across the blade of my sword and bark of my shield. I was pushed back against the wall, the wind knocked out of me, frozen in place by pain. I gasped to regain my breath before the monstrous arachnid ate me. “Link, it spins around when you approach it, avoid the claws when it spins back around,” Navi told me, being unhelpful as usual.

 

Pushing off the wall, I readied my sword again and stepped forward. The spider turned its soft underside to me, I jumped at it, bringing my sword down on its soft flesh. With a bone-chilling scream that didn’t sound natural, the Skulltula fell into the darkness below. I knew where the bottom was, but with the sunlight blocked out by silk-wrapped leaves above, the ground was shrouded in shadows. “Well,” I panted. “That was interesting.” Putting my sword away on my back, I looked over the edge of the branch at the bottom for the corpse of the spider.

 

When something slammed into my back, knocking me off balance and sending me falling into the darkness below. “Link, aim for the pit, the webs should cushion your fall!” Navi shouted, flying as fast as she could to keep up with my plummeting form. There was little time, so flipped my body around to land on the webbing with my back. I stopped for a moment, the spider web stretching around me before it broke and I was sent flailing into the pit below.

 

I splashed down into an underground lake under the Great Deku Tree. Surfacing, I spluttered and tore at the sticky strands covering my eyes and face. “Get them off, get them off!” I shrieked. A blue light suddenly appeared in my field of vision, as Navi started helping me out. I started treading water and looked around. “Link, are you alright?” Navi asked, examining every inch of my head for any injuries. I swear, that fairy... “We are under the Great Deku Tree. This lake is where he gathers the water to purify it before sending it to the forest.”

 

That... actually made perfect sense to me. I looked up, floating on my back, and saw the hole I had fallen down through, which was actually an open point between several of the Deku Tree’s roots. There was a patch of vines on the wall leading back up to the surface there. The chattering, which had to be from the Skulltula’s, was returning. “That is going to be very disconcerting,” I said to Navi, swimming for shore. Or rather, the ledge that counted as shore down here. I pulled myself up onto the ledge and collapsed onto my back, breathing heavy. This was turning out to be a horrible day.

 

When my breathing had finally settled again, I sat up. “Navi, do you have any idea at all where we are supposed to be going?” I asked the flitting forest fae. Navi floated in front of me, then dropped towards the floor to land on my knee, pouting. “No,” she said begrudgingly. She perked up again after a moment. “But I do feel an aura of evil in the air! It feels stronger closer to that door!” She pointed across the lake at a vine- and web-covered door. It was a little ways up the wall from where I sat, just barely visible in the wane light. I stared at the door for a moment, then I turned my gaze on her. “Really? And you expect me to sprout wings and fly over there?” I asked. The ledge over to that side was out, washed or broken away.

 

“Oh, right...” she said, drooping again. “Well, maybe you can use the vines and those Deku sticks you got outside to make a bridge?” I groaned and stood up, knocking her off my knee. What I really wanted to do was just climb up out of the cavern and walk out the Deku Tree’s mouth, but I couldn’t. Navi would just pull my hair again...

 

“Navi, look,” I said, poking at her. “There are several ways this can go. You can start being useful, or I can feed you to one of those spiders up there.” The expression on her face was priceless as she flew off across the cavern. Shaking my head, I started making a quick ladder. There might be a use for it some how. Navi flew back about the time when I was finished. I vaulted to my feet. "Is there some way to attach this on the other side?" I asked, holding up the end of the ladder.

 

Navi nodded at me. "There are at least three large roots that you could throw the end over.." she said, examining the make-shift work. "It should hook on the offshoots and you can climb up from there." I nodded, testing all the knots I had made. "Navi, would you be able to carry this over there?" I asked, handing her the end of the make-shift ladder. She struggled for a moment or two, dropping towards the floor before straightening out with a groan. Again, I nodded. This was going to be good. "Good, now fly over to the door and hook that up where I can reach it. I will be right over."

 

"...Great, lowered to the flying conveyance," I heard her grumble as she flew off. I took off my soft boots and tied them to my belt. The leather, soaked as it was, would be useless until it dried, but I wasn't going to leave them down here. They were MY boots! When Navi was halfway across the underground lake, I dove into the water and started across. All the swimming I had done in the pool in the forest was a boon here, for sure. The other Kokiri had been teasing me about my time spent in the forest, but hah! Now I win! I kicked strongly, glad that I refused to wear any of Saria's skirts. The range of motion from my shorts was great, and there was no worry that anyone would see anything... Well, you know what I mean.

 

Ahead of me, I saw the reflected blue light from my fairy, and a brief splash as she dropped the ladder into place. I reached the end a moment or three later ,grabbing the end and hauling myself up out of the cold water. "Okay, I hope there's a better way out, I don't want to do that again," I sai d , wringing out my tunic and shorts. I shook water out of my boots and tugged them on, grimacing at the squish of water between my toes. "Gross," I muttered. Navi had flown off and examined the door, and I wondered, while looking over at the door, why there was even a door down here in the first place. It wasn't like someone had planted the Great Deku Tree on purpose. He just... was.

 

"Come on, Link, through here! I think we're almost there!" Navi said, flying back and forth between me and the door. It was starting to get annoying how chipper she was all the time. I almost felt sorry for being sassy with her... Oh well.

 

I sighed and pushed on the door, making it swing open into a large open room. There, in the middle of the room was a large chest, vines drooping over it. There seemed to be some sort of light coming from up above, but I couldn't tell where it had been coming from. The ceiling might have been made of just the roots of the Deku Tree, and the sunlight was streaming through that, or there was magic in the air causing it. Either way, I stepped into the room, closing the door behind me, and skirted around the edge of the room just to get a good look. My fairy fluttered into the room, flying closer to the chest to get a better look.

 

"Hey, Link, this is unlocked! I wonder what could be inside.." she said, trying to lift the lid off. The sounds of the Skulltula's was slightly muted here, so I could hear a different sound... Rustling leaves, a soft giggle, and whispering. I pulled out my sword and shield, holding them before me as I cautiously approached the chest . Navi was shining her blue light everywhere when a shelled nut came flying out of nowhere and broke into a million pieces somewhere behind me.

 

"Brother, you missed!" a voice called out from the blue-black shadows on the other side of the room. "Shut your trap, you! You'll give away our secret!" another called out. My sky blue eyes scanned the other side of the room just as a walnut shell shot out at me. I raised my shield just in time to protect my face from the nut. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" I called out, watching the nut fly back into the edge of the room. I heard the distinct thud-knock of the nut hitting wood.

 

"Ow! That hurt!" I heard from one of the two voices. "Hey, you hurt our brother! You're going to pay for that! Get him!" a third voice said, then two nuts came flying out at me. I groaned, putting the shield up in front of me. Great, two more losers that thought I was a boy. "I'm not a boy! I'm just a tomboy! I like wearing boys clothes!" I shouted at the voices. The nuts bounced harmlessly off my shield, and I started watching where they were coming from. "Come out here where I can see you and no one else has to get hurt."

 

The nuts stopped flying at me, and the two voices started whispering again. I heard snippets of their conversation, mostly the third one saying that I should be beaten to a pulp for their mistress.. whoever that was. I started inching towards them, motioning to Navi to fly over and see if she could light up the shadows just enough for me to see clearly. With her light, thankfully, I could see the three shapes, one slumped over slightly. They were covered in leaves, with large round faces, large noses... Deku Scrubs! Bullies of the forest, no one wanted to be friends with them.

 

I groaned, bringing their attention back to me. "Really? Why would you be down here, instead of up in the sunlight?" I asked, putting my arms out. There was no reason they should shoot their Deku nuts at me, right? Oh boy was I wrong.

 

"Butt out, shorty!" the bigger one on my right said, spitting a nut at me. I brought my shield up just in time to have it bounce back, but the Scrub ducked down into its hidey-hole just as the projectile would have hit its face. Instead, the nut broke against the wall, giving off a little flash. The first one giggled a little, and I looked over at it. It had called the other two brother... and it had a pink flower in its leaves, holding them out of its face on one side. Oh great, a female scrub, and her brothers.. "You tell him what-for, brother!" she said, spitting another nut at me.

 

This one I dodged away from, jumping backwards and a little sideways. The bigger scrub popped up again and launched another one, this one faster than the ones before it. I brought my shield up, and punched forward with it, giving the already fast nut a speedier exit towards its launchers face. The Scrub didn't expect that maneuver, and when the nut hit him in the face, he slumped over his home and the female shrieked at me, "Why would you do something like that!"

 

I could tell that I had pissed off the little female Deku Scrub, and now she was firing nuts at me with reckless abandon. Which was a little ridiculous, but what can I say? I have a nutty personality? Not really, of course, but a the time I think I did. I bounced the shelled projectiles back at the Scrub, hoping to hit her like I had her brothers. I had to have some sort of luck today, right?

 

"Link, aim here!" Navi said, floating in front of the scrub, a little over her firing line. It would be better if she would take a nut for me and let me get closer with my sword.. That would be too much of a mercy for the Goddesses to give me, though. Of course, they wouldn't care about one small Kokiri child that had only just gotten their fairy that day. I did aim my shield to have one of the nuts bounce off towards Navi, anyways, and she moved so that it hit the scrub square in the face. "Oh queenie! Forgive us!" she said loudly, ducking into her hole in the ground. The leaves all closed up for a moment, and the other two shook off their pain and ducked down as well. "Queenie, we're coming! Don't worry!" they said, ducking down into their holes, then all three launched into the air and landed among the roots above.

 

Looking up, I slipped my shield on my back again, dusting my hands off after. "Now, lets look at that chest..." I said, turning back for the treasure. Navi flew around my head, looking for a good place to look as I started lifting the lid. This thing was bigger than I was by a good half foot. I almost fell in reaching for the bottom of the chest, which was occupied by a single item: a slingshot. I picked i up and dropped back to the floor, frowning. "What in the name of the goddesses is this?"

 

Navi looked at it as I turned it over in my hands. "Oh! The Fairy Slingshot! This was given to the Kokiri as a gift from one of the Great Fairy's!" she said, landing on my arm and putting her hand on one of the arms. "At least, I think it is.. It looks like it."

 

"Is it going to be useful?" I ask, lifting my arm up to see how it aimed. I'd used a slingshot before, the Know-it-all brothers had one that they let me use for catching squirrels. Not that I had actually ever hurt the squirrels. I mostly just scared them away from my tree house. You try sleeping while a small fuzzy forest creature is chewing on a nut above your head and crumbs keep falling onto your face and into your eyes. It's not pleasant. So I learned how to use a slingshot and scared them out of my tree before I went to sleep. So I knew what the aim would be like before I shot it just by looking. The aim was pretty good, actually. I looked into the chest and found a pouch of... "Oh, Deku seeds!" I exclaimed, shaking a few out into my hand. These made perfect shot if you could find them.

 

Navi nodded in the air, flying up and down. "This is good! Now you have a ranged weapon as well as your sword!" she said, setting down on the top of my hat. I tied the seeds to my belt, and tucked the slingshot in next to it, then looked around the room again. "...Now how do we get out? There's only the way we came in, Navi," I said, motioning to the one and only door in the entire room. She flew over to it, and examined the door. "Link, the evil is stronger over here, I think the room might have changed!" she said, turning back to me. I frowned again, and followed her, pulling open the door. She was right, this time. The underground lake was gone, replaced by a short hall walled in stone. I could see a faint light at the other end, flickering firelight, and what looked like a small pillar in the next room.

 

Taking a deep breath, I stepped through and pulled the door closed behind me. This had to be it, we were deep under the Deku Tree, at the furthest point he could pull nutrients from, I was going to save the Great Deku Tree. "Come on, Navi, lets beat this curse." Navi cheered and followed me down the tunnel into the darkness.

 

The dark didn't last very long, the firelight I saw earlier was actually torches, and there were dozens set up along the edge of the cavern. There were also some set on the four pillars in the center of the room. In general, the room was fairly well lit for being underground. Navi landed on my shoulder and sat there, trembling. "Link, it's so... There's so much evil here," she whispered into my ear. "I can barely breathe.."

 

I realized then that I couldn't hear the Skulltula's, but something scraping along the ceiling... I looked up, and saw the ugliest spider I had ever seen! She was at least seven feet long, her legs twice that, and the single biggest eye in the middle of where eight normally would be. There were plates along her back, forming a hard exoskeleton that looked like the Skulltula faces, except not screaming. It looked like this face was actually eating the head of the spider. Maybe that was why she had only the one eye.

 

That eye was scanning the ground below it, rolling all around grossly. "Ew.. That is a really big spider..." I said out loud. The eye suddenly turned towards me, and the spider let out an ear-piercing scream. I didn't know that spiders could do that! I covered my ears and crouched down as the giant spider dropped down to the floor of the cavern. The ground shuddered with her sudden weight, and I felt stones from the roof clatter on the floor near me. I couldn't move, I was so scared! This monster was the thing of nightmares, of my nightmares! I thought I was afraid of spiders up until this point, but now I can say that was terrified of them. Crouched on the floor near the entrance to the cavern, I trembled and couldn't move. All I could hear was the blood rushing in my ears, all I could see was that eye, bloody and red, staring at me, as I looked at the floor. 

 

Navi pulled on my hair, yanking a strand free from my scalp. The sharp pain pulled me out of my fear, and I cried out. Navi flew into my face. “Link, look at me,” she said, her glowing expression melting the fear away. “Link, you can do this, you can save the Deku Tree from this monster, but you have to get up and fight!” She landing on my hand, putting her small fingers against the back of my hand. A faint glow started there, and I slowly stood, drawing my new slingshot. The absolute terror this giant spider had instilled in me was now pushed to the back of my mind as I faced down the arachnid.

 

She towered above me, her baleful red eye still turned towards me as I sized her up. “You’re not so big,” I said, pulling out the slingshot and a single nut. I took careful aim, waiting until it looked at me again before loosing the seed-bullet. It hit the monster square in the eye, causing it to let out another scream. I winced, my terror spiking for a moment. The roar echoed around the small cavern, nearly covering up the sound of... shells cracking? I swiftly looked back down towards the floor, ignoring the giant spider above to the smaller spiders rushing at me. They must have dropped when the giant monster above me was dropping rocks. Drawing my sword suddenly, I swung, digging deep into the soft carapaces of the newly hatched spiderlings attempting to surround me. Their shrieks as they died grated on my nerves, though I felt nothing but a cool passive desire to live.

 

With all the hatchlings dead, their broken lifeless husks surrounding me, I picked up my slingshot again. While I had been dispatching the unholy spawn, the spider had descended from the ceiling again. I.. I won't tell you how it ended, but I can tell you that I needed a bath when I finished her off. Navi lit the way ahead of me, leading me to a door on the far side of the cavern. A cool breeze touched my face when I pushed it open, and I relaxed a little. It was over. “Come on Navi, we have an old tree to talk to,” I said to my fairy, leading the way out of the dark. I didn't expect what waited for us when we came into the fading light of day.

 

Mido stood before the tree, the rest of the Kokiri spread out behind him, some of the girls crying and holding each other. The boys all looked angry, carrying Deku sticks and rocks as they crowded around the entrance. Saria was no where to be seen. “Mido, what's going on?” I asked, stepping towards him, looking around at the others. “What happened?”

 

The expression on Mido's face should have told me everything. “Link, you killed the Great Deku Tree.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooooooops!


	3. Exile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Great Deku Tree dead, there was no place for our hero...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no words. This was just... too long.

_You see, this all this came as a surprise to me. I thought I had saved the Deku Tree. But killing him? I never wanted to do that._

 

_**For so long, the Kokiri Forest, the source of life, has stood as a barrier** _

 

_**But before this evil, even my power is as nothing...** _

 

_**...I am dying.** _

 

 

Mido's words didn't quite register at first. So I looked up at the Great Deku Tree, whose bark had faded to a pale silver-grey, and his leaves were already falling. I recoiled in horror. "Killed... No, I saved him!" I cried out, facing the Kokiri gathered in the Great Deku Tree's glade. "There was a monster in the roots! It was feeding off him, draining him.." My voice cracked with every angry or disappointed look I received. My friends, all of the Kokiri I thought had my back, they turned their faces from my gaze.

"Then explain why the Tree said his last words moments before you walked out!" Mido cried, shoving me to the ground. "The Deku Baba's have been getting worse, and who knows what sort of monsters are coming out of the Lost Woods at night! You have doomed all of us, Link, you dolt!" He turned away from me then, toward the other Kokiri children. "Is there anyone who would speak for Link and stand up for him?" Silence was his only answer. His eyes were so cold when he looked back at me. "Everyone sees you for what you are, Link, a murderer and an outsider.”

He was right. No one answered my silent pleas as I stumbled through the crowd. Everyone stepped back from me, and I ran for the village as fast as I could. This was impossible, I can't have killed the Great Deku Tree, he was the only constant in the forest. Even the Lost Woods didn't change around him. I was the only one of the Kokiri to know that, they were all too afraid, save for Saria. She and I were the only one to spend any time getting to know the Skull Kids, and they never set foot in the village. Mido was right, I was an outsider.

I knew what I had to do. I ran toward the bridge leading out of the forest.

"Link, what are you doing? You can't leave the Forest, you'll die!" my fairy cried, pulling on my tunic. I swatted her away and turned to her. "Look, Navi, I'm leaving. I can't stay here anymore, not with everyone thinking I murdered the Deku Tree!" With tears in my eyes, I turned and ran for the tunnel. "I'd rather be dead!"

I ran for the end of everything I had ever known." I didn't even notice that Saria was standing on the bridge leading out of the Village until she spoke up. "Linkette! Wait!" she cried to me, grabbing my tunic. I looked at her through my tears, saw her expression, and collapsed into her arms with huge wracking sobs. "Oh, Linkette," she said, rubbing my back. 

"Saria, I can't stay, Mido has everyone against me," I sobbed, pulling her down as I sunk to my knees on the bridge. I could see my friends, the Skull Kids, looking up from below, their eyes filled with sorrow and a touch of fear. "I killed the Great Deku Tree, Saria. I tried to save him, and I killed him instead!"

"Linkette, you didn't kill him," she said, pulling me back to look at her. "He was dying anyways because of his curse, but he told me something that I need to tell you. I know why your dreams have been dark of late, Linkette. I know about the man with the red hair." I was shocked. I hadn't told anyone about my dreams. Mostly because dreaming of anything was unheard of by the Kokiri. They supposedly don't dream of anything. Saria continued. "He came from the desert, and is a dreadful sorcerer. He cursed the Great Deku Tree. This man ceaselessly uses his vile powers in his search for the Sacred Realm that is connected to Hyrule. He is searching for a divine relic, the Triforce, which contains the essence of the gods Din, Nayru, and Farore."

I had never heard of the Goddesses, and Saria has such a soothing voice I had no choice but to listen to what she was telling me. So I wiped my tears away and sniffed before wiping my nose on the sleeve of my tunic. "Who are they?" I asked.

"They created Hyrule. Din, the Goddess of Power, cultivated the land and created the red earth. Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom, poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world. And the goddess Farore, Goddess of Courage, with her rich soul created life, and those who would uphold the law. When they finished, they left for the heavens. At the point where they left the world, three golden triangles were left behind. Since then, these triangles, the Triforce, have become the basis for the world's providence," she said calmly. I blinked at her and sat down on the bridge, hanging my feet off the edge like we always did.

"Why did the Great Deku Tree need me to know this?" I asked, holding myself. "What does this have to do with the man in my dreams?"

"Linkette, you can't let the man in your dreams get his hands on the Triforce! If he does, the curse he cast on the Deku Tree won't be the last!" Again, I was shocked. Saria had never been so adamant about anything before, and her words shocked me. "You have to take this to Hyrule Castle, to the princess, across the field," she added quietly, pressing a gem into my hands. "The Kokiri's Emerald;  _he_ wanted to take it. But the Deku Tree would never give it up to someone such as him. Please, Linkette, the Princess needs to know what has happened here. The future depends on you."

I felt tears sting my eyes again, thinking about what this all meant. "Saria, I-" I started, before standing again and hugging her tightly. "I don't want to leave you, Saria."

"Linkette, there's one more thing I have to give you. I know you never had the chance to make one of these yourself," she said, pulling out her Ocarina. "I knew you would leave the forest some day. You  _are_ different from the rest of us, but that's okay. We'll still be friends forever. And.. When you play it, I hope you'll think of me and come back to visit."

"Saria.. I'll come back when I can, I promise," I said, hugging Saria one more time. Though she made me feel confident about everything, I couldn't shake that nagging feeling that she was pushing me away to make herself feel better. "...Bye Saria." I turned and ran. I couldn't fight back the tears any longer and I didn't want her to see me break down again.

Navi stopped me just before I ran between the last two trees marking the edge of the forest by flying into my face. "Link, wait! Beyond here is Hyrule Field! If you really are a Kokiri, you'll die if you leave now."

"So what, Navi? I already said that there's no point in living if everyone that I called friend thinks I killed the most important thing in the forest!" Even Saria didn't seem too convinced that I'd live, even when she told me I had to leave. "I'm the 'broken one', the 'boy without a fairy', Navi. I deserve whatever I get." I added as I brushed my fairy aside and stepped out into the open sunshine, closing my eyes tight.

After  a moment, I opened one eye and looked. "...I'm not dead?" I asked, looking back at Navi. The blue annoyance flew around my head and pulled on my ears. "You dolt, don't scare me like that!"

"Gyah, Navi stop that!" I cried out, swinging my hat at her. "It's bad enough that you tell me what to do, you don't have to pull my ears!" Somewhere, secretly though, I had so hoped that I had died. That would have proved to Mido that I was a real Kokiri. Now, I had no clue what I was. But Saria told me where to go, and that was to the princess.

Only, I didn't know where to go to do that. "Navi, do you know where the castle is?"

 

~*~*~*~

 

The light was fading by the time I could see anything other than waving grass. The lowering sun in the west tinted the sky a dusky orange, and the walls of the small village ahead of me were casting long shadows. "Look, Link! We should see if we can stay there!" Navi said, flying a little ways ahead of me. "Staying out after dark is a really bad idea."

I hated to admit it, but she was right. My growing unease about being out in the open had me reaching for my sword constantly, looking around. The occasional sound in the grass rubbed my nerves raw, and I jumped at even a small harmless butterfly floating in front of my face. "Alright, we'll go see if we can stay. I don't have any money left, though, if they ask for it."

The two of us worked our way around the walls to the gate, by which time the sun had set. The moon was rising, and the sounds of the field were starting to get louder. Navi cried out a warning, and I turned, drawing my sword. Behind me, a skeletal form was pushing itself up from the grass. "Stalchildren!" she called, swooping around its head and lighting it up. The skeletal form reached with claws for the fairy. "Just hit it, Link! They're undead creatures that'll tear you apart with their claws!'

Bringing my wooden shield up just in time to block a claw just in time, I quipped at Navi, "You couldn't have told me sooner there were dangers in the grass!"

"I've never been outside the Forest, you dolt! Swing your sword already!"

How I wish I had gotten a less annoying fairy. But, she was right, I wasn't getting out of this situation without a fight, so I pushed the Stalchild away from my shield into one of its friends before thrusting my sword through both of them, cutting through their spines. They dropped with a clatter, and I pushed through the space between them, heading for the wall. I needed something at my back for protection. "Find something else to eat, you!" I yelled, bashing another one with my shield as I turned to face them again. There were so many of them, and they just kept coming, climbing out of the ground like flowers. One grabbed my leg. "Get off of me!" I cried, stabbing down while fending another claw off. 

A voice from above shouted down to me, "Head down!" just before a bunch of arrows knocked many of the skeletons away from me. I looked up to see a rope ladder being dropped over the wall. "Grab on, kid!" the voice called out again.

"I think this is our exit," I said, grabbing with my shield hand. One more Stalchild got close, and I think I took off its head before I was yanked out of reach. Once over the top of the wall, I leaned against the parapet, catching my breath.

"What are you doing out in the field in the middle of the night, kid?" my rescuer asked, crouching in front of me. I looked at him, keeping my sword in hand. "Don't you know that's dangerous?"

"Yeah, I know that now..." I muttered. I shook my head and looked at him. He was tall, taller than any Kokiri was, and there was something on his face... "Why do you have a caterpillar under your nose?"

That took him back for a moment. He reached up and touched his face, then laughed. "Oh, you mean the mustache. That's there on purpose." Standing up, he offered his hand to me. "I'm Rusl, and you're in Lon Lon Ranch."

"Not the castle? Damn.." I said, pushing off the wall. "Can you tell me how to get to the castle? I need to get there fast, it's important."

Rusl shook his head. "Sorry, kid, getting to the castle is impossible right now, its all the way across the field to the north, and the gates into town are shut," he told me with a shrug. "Look, I'll take you to the main house, you can meet the boss and he'll find out what to do with you."

Rubbing my face, I groaned. More people. "Fine, fine," I said, finally putting my sword away. Something about the atmosphere, it made me feel safe, almost. "Take me to the boss."

 

~*~*~*~

 

The boss turned out to be a large man with a big bushy mustache by the name of Talon. Looking at him, I couldn't see why he was the boss, but Rusl told me that he was the one in charge of the entire ranch. "So, you are trying to get to Castle Town on foot?" he asked me, petting a cucco absently. "No one told you how dangerous it was?"

I kicked the floor a little bit, biting my lip. "It wasn't that no one told me how dangerous it was, sir, it was more like I wasn't told anything about the world outside my home," I said, looking up at him. He was easy to get along with, from what I could tell.

He nodded. "Right, the woods south of here. That explains the clothes at least," he said, setting the bird aside. "Here's the deal. Castle Town is three days from here by foot, and that's by the roads. It's not advisable to take the shorter route through the grass, since the skeletons tend to swarm." I nodded, rubbing the back of my head. Navi complained a little, since the motion dislodged my hat, which she was hiding under. "We've got a shipment coming up next week that we have to take up to the castle, you could come with us if you'd like. It'll be my little girl's first time to town, too, I think the two of you'll get along great."

I nodded. "I appreciate the offer. I can help a little, I guess," I said. "I have a slingshot, I can scare crows away or whatever you want me to do."

Talon laughed, scaring a couple of the cucco's into flight. "The offer is appreciated, kid," he chuckled, slapping his leg. "We'll probably take you up on that, all the kids here do their part in the daily chores. We'll find something for you to do. Now, what's your name, we can't just keep calling you kid."

Here we go, moment of truth. "My name is LInkette," I said, standing as tall as I could.

"Link, that's a good name," he said. It was like all the air was let out of me, I felt empty. He didn't even know me, and still saw me as a boy. What was going on? Why me, of all people?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise the next chapter will be soon. The inspiration ball is rolling!


End file.
